In ancient times, the supremacy of imperial power, in addition to the supreme power of the emperor, there is also a standard, that is, the harem beauty three thousand. As the first female emperor in Chinese history, Wu Zetian had her greatness, and she really regarded herself as an emperor and regarded herself as a dragon in her heart, not a phoenix. Her favor for men was just plain, and she followed the practices of male emperors and even institutionalized her harem.
Portrait of Wu Zetian
She first had only one internal favorite, Xue Huaiyi, and in the second year of Tongtian, Wu Zetian's daughter Princess Taiping gave Zhang Changzong to Wu Zetian as a male favorite. Zhang Changzong told Wu Zetian that his brother Zhang Yizhi had "used the instrument to be a courtier, and he worked and refined". Zhang Yizhi was also in his twenties at the time, "white and beautiful, good at music and lyrics", so both brothers became Wu Zetian's favorites. In the second year of the Holy Calendar, Wu Zetian set up an institution called "Control Crane House" to place his own internal favor offerings, with Zhang Yizhi as the control crane supervisor. In the first year of the long year, he changed the control of the Crane Mansion to "Fengchen Mansion", a large number of captive and beautiful men and thin literati, for a time men smeared grease and powder, invited pets to be jealous, accompanied by the empress to play banyan pu plays or jokes, which is unprecedented in Chinese history.
Xue Huaiyi
Wu Zetian, who was soaked in the pile of beautiful men, although he was in his seventies, could not withstand the temptation, and often feasted all night under the escort of Zhang Changzong, Zhang Yizhi's brothers and Zhu Wu, and in the long run, her body would definitely not be able to stand it, but the ministers knew who advised whom to be unlucky, because this was forcing the emperor to do what he did not want to do, and it was light to go to heavenly prison without paying attention. The Old Book of Tang and the Book of Xue Huaiyi records that The Prime Minister Su Liangsi was not accustomed to the empress's fornication, so he took her male pet out of anger. One day Xue Huaiyi and Su Liangsi met, actually arrogant and rude, Su Liangsi was furious, slapped him with several big mouths, Xue Huaiyi covered his face to find the empress to complain, the empress said: "This old man, Shuo is also afraid of him!" In the future, you will go to the north gate and stop wandering in the south of the prime minister. ”
Su Liangsi
Just when the other ministers were silent, the famous Di Ren was outstanding, but then again, the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu only had an effect on his appearance, many TV series described how the relationship between Di Renjie and Wu Zetian was extraordinary, and in "Protecting the Country", the two were written as friends who joked and joked before people, although these were some exaggerations, but also somewhat in line with historical facts, and later when Di Renjie died, Wu Zetian made the imperial court officials mourn for three days, and also cried with a handful of snot and tears that the imperial court was gone. This shows her dependence and trust in Di Renjie. Zhang KamZhi
Di Renjie
Di Renjie once asked Wu Zetian to close the Control Crane Mansion, saying: In the past, the "Crane Control Prison" was not a fictitious name but in practice, and although the name of "Control Crane Prison" has been removed today, the two Zhangs are still around His Majesty. Wu Zetian was not angry at Di Renjie's accusations, nor did he explain them directly: I already knew that you were a loyal and honest old minister, so I entrusted you with the heavy responsibility of the state, but you should not ask about this matter, because I spoiled Erzhang, in fact, in order to maintain my body, I used to serve the emperor, I had too much fertility, and my flesh and qi had been exhausted, so the disease was entangled from time to time, although I often took supplements such as ginseng mushrooms, but the effect was not great. Shen Nanxuan (Imperial Physician) said that the decline of blood qi is beyond the power of the medicinal stone, and only by taking Yuanyang to cultivate the root can the yin and yang be combined and the flesh and qi sufficient. I also thought that this was a vain statement, tried it out, and soon the blood and spirit gradually became stronger, this is by no means a lie to you, I have two teeth to grow back is proof. After Wu Zetian finished speaking, he also opened his mouth for Di Renjie to see, so that this Zhang Yizhi was indeed a rare "panacea", he not only helped Wu Zetian grow wisdom teeth, but also let her fall off eyebrows regenerate. However, Di Renjie did not follow and did not forgive, insisting that the cultivation of the holy bow was also conducive to moderation, indulgence, and sufficient harm. I hope that His Majesty will stop here and not add more male pets in the future. Wu Zetian had no choice but to accept defeat and said: What you are talking about is a golden jade good word, and I will definitely restrain myself in the future. Thinking about Wu Zetian, who was not even afraid of his own emperor husband in the past, actually lost his domineering spirit in front of Di Renjie, which showed that the empress respected him, and it was even more rare for the monarchs and courtiers above the court to discuss the matter of male favor, but Wu Zetian was in his later years because of the maintenance of the law, and his old age did not decline, but it was also a fact, and she also specially issued a special edict to change the yuan to "longevity" for this purpose.
Zhang KamZhi
In the first year of shenlong, the chancellor Zhang Kamzhi and five other ministers took advantage of Wu Zetian's serious illness, attacked at Xuanwu Gate, welcomed the crown prince Li Zhe to cut through the pass, beheaded Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong's brothers, forced Wu Zetian to abdicate, and passed the throne to Li Zhe, that is, Tang Zhongzong, in the winter of this year, Wu Zetian fell ill and died, she pre-government as an empress for 24 years, as an empress dowager for 7 years, called the emperor for 15 years, and ruled for a total of 46 years, after her death, she was called "Empress Dashengze Tian", buried with Gaozong in the name of Empress Gaozong, so posterity called her Wu Zetian.